Woodworking plane



June 17, 1958 J. K. WILSON ET AL 2,839,109

WOODWORKING PLANE Filed Aug. 17, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 %%m pmm WQZWA W June 1953 J. K. WILSON ET AL WOODWORKING PLANE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 17, 1956 1 INVENTOR.

pm I AT-ro 2 N EYS United States Patent WOODWORKING PLANE Jack K. Wilson, Norman E. Wilson, and Robert S. Wilson,

. Springfield, Mo.

Application August 17, 1956, Serial No. 6%,847 1 Claim. (Cl. 145-5 This invention relates to woodworking planes, and more particularly has reference to a plane which may be briefly summarized as follows:

A channeled body portion of the plane includes a fiat base having a transverse, blade-receiving groove. Mounted for adjustrnent longitudinally of and upon the base is a support member for a blade, with the longitudinal adjustment of said support member being adapted to changethe angularity of the plane of the base. The blade is clamped in position by means of a retaining plate, and is itself slidably adjustable in a longitudinal direction in its own plane by loosening of the retaining plate, in any position to which it is angularly adjusted.

One important object of the present inventionis to provide. a woodworking plane having particularly improved and novel means for adjusting the 'angularity ofthe blade to the plane of the base from which it projects.

.Another object is to maintain the cutting edge of the blade perfectly square with the face of the plane.

Another object is to provide for novel means for facilitating adjustment of the cutting depth of the blade.

.A further object of importance is to provide a double edged blade, which can be reversed end for end, that end that is not in use being adapted to be protectively covered by the retaining plate to prevent injury to the worker.

Yetanother object is to provide a plane which will be of particularly simple construction, with the plane being especially designed for ease and relatively lowcost of manufacture, thus. to promote commercial feasibility thereof.

Still another object is to provide a plane which, despiteits relatively light, simplified construction, will nevertheless berugged, adapted to retain all adjustments, and

adapted to perform planing operations with a high degreeof accuracy, in situations in which said operations have not heretofore been carried out with full effectiveness by conventional planes already in use.

Other objects will appear from the following descrip tion, the claim appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing in which like reference characters designate like partsthroughout theseveral .views and wherein:

Figure 1 is a top view of a plane formed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view thereof;

Figure 3 is a rear elevational view thereof;

Figure 4 is. a longitudinal section substantially on line 4-4 of-Figure 1;

Figure 5 is an exploded perspective view of the plane; and

Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a modified construction.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the reference numeral 10 generally designates a supporting body. As shown to particular advantage in Figure 5, thebody 10 is of channeled formation, and includes a planiform base 12 integral along its opposite longitudinal edges with vertically disposed side walls 14 extending from end to end of the 2,839,109 e e e 1 .55.

base. Side walls 14, from a location immediately in front of the midlength point of the plane (see Figure 4), are progressively reduced in height in the direction of the leading end of the plane, and at their leading ends, the side walls are curved inwardly toward each other as shown in Figure 5.

Substantially midway between the midlength point of the base and the forward extremity thereof, the upper surface of the base is integrally formed with a ridge 18 extending the full distance between the side Walls, said ridge being transversely rounded and being disposed immediately in front of a transverse, blade-receiving slot 203 The front wall of the slot is defined by the rear wall of the ridge, said front wall being designated 22 and being inclined from the vertical to facilitate the passage of chips upwardly through the slot during operation of the plane. 1 i

The slot, at its back edge, is defined by a blade-like portion of the base designated at 24, said portion being provided by beveling the top surface of the basedown wardly in the direction of the slot'20 as shown in Figure 4.v

Rearwardly of the blade-like portion 24 of the base, said base is integrally formed with an upwardly projecting stud 26 inclined out of the vertical in the direction of the leading end of the plane, and adjacent to the rear extrem ity of the base there is formed a vertically disposed, relatively low stud 28 extending upwardlyfrom the'intermediate portion of a longitudinally and centrally extending, low, guide rib 39. 7

At opposite ends of the blade-receiving groove 20,- the inner surfaces of the side walls 14 are integrallyforrned with horizontally extending positioning lugs 32, and rearwardly of the stud 26, said side walls are formed with vertically. elongated-rear positioning lugs 34. In back of the rear. positioning lugs 34, side walls 14 are formed with large, circular, finger-receiving openings '35.-

This completes the construction of the body 10, and as shown in Figure 5, supported upon the rear portion of the body is a blade support member generally designated at 36, including a cross head 38 the top surface of which has been designated at 40 and declines in the direction of the. leading end of the plane, said topsurface being pitched at a slight angle from horizontal and intersecting at its leading edge with a vertically disposed front surface 42 of the cross head, thus defining a transversely extending blade support edge 44 at the intersection point be-' tween the surfaces 40, 42.

Cross head38 is integral at its back edge, medially between oppositeends of the cross head, with a rearwardly' projecting guide tongue 46, having an end-to-endslot 48' receiving the guide rib 30. Stud 28 projects upwardly through the slot 4%,and receives a nut 50 and washer 52, which when turned home against the top surface of the tongue 46, holds the blade support member 36 in selected positions to which it is adjusted longitudinally of and upon the body 10.

1 The blade has been designated at 54, and is of wide, rectangular configuration, the opposite ends of said blade being oppositely beveled to provide cutting edges 56. In the midwidth area of the blade there is formed a slot 58 extending longitudinally'of the blade, and receiving the:

ing plate and the blade support member and body 10, in selected positions of adjustment of the blade.

Integrally formed upon the retaining plate is a rearwardly projecting wide, fiat extensionj68 constituting a protective cover plate for the rear end of the blade 54 as shown in Figure 4. I

In use, the parts are assembled as shown in Figure 4, with the forward cutting edge 56 f the blade extending downwardly through the slot of the base 12. Adjacent its forward extremity, the blade is supported upon the leading edge 71) of the beveled portion 24 of the base 12, ,while rearwardly of slot 58, the blade. is supported upon the blade support edge 44 of the cross head 38.

Assuming that it isdesired to adjust the angle'of the plane of the blade relative to the plane of the base 12, the blade support member 36 is adjusted longitudinally ofthe base. If adjusted to the left of Figure 4, the blade support member will efiect a camming action against the blade, tending to shift the rear end portion of the blade upwardly, thereby increasing the angularity of the blade to the plane of the base 12. If adjusted to the right in Figure 4, the blade support member reduces the angularity of the blade to the plane of the base. These adjustments, of course, are made with nuts 50, 64 loose upon their associated studs 28, 26 respectively.

In any selected position to which the blade is adjusted angularly to the plane of the base, adjustments for depth can be made, by loosening nut 64. With nut 64 loosened, the blade can be shifted in the direction of its length, to locate the forward cutting edge 56 thereof a selected distance below the plane of the underside of the base 12. To facilitate the adjustment, the finger holes are provided, so that one may insert the thumb and index finger through said holes intoengagem-ent with opposite sides of the blade for the purpose of making the depth adjustment.

It is important to note that the cutting edge 56 of the blade is always maintained square with the front of the plane, that is, in full parallelism with the leading edge of the base 12. This is provided for by the forward and rear positioning lugs 32, 34, which engage against the opposite longitudinal edges of the blade at locations spaced longitudinally of the blade, in a manner shown to best advantage in Figure 1.

The provision of the blade angle adjustments has the desirable result of allowing for the planing of all types of grain structures, such as end grain, which is ordinarily not capable of being planed satisfactorily when conventional planes are employed. The maintenance of the blade cutting edge square with the face of the plane, of course; has the desirable effect of obtaining uniformity in the planing operations, while the depth adjustment means facilitates the making of depth adjustments with maximum speed and ease. The use of a blade with two cutting edges of course adds to the life of the blade, since the blade is readily reversible end for end.

In Figure 6 is shown a modified form in which the angularity of the blade to the support body is adjusted by a different means. All components are identical to those of the first form with the exception of the support body 1011 and bladesupport member 36a. Body 101: includes a base 12:: the upper surface of which is formed at the rear end of the base with transverse, parallel, low serrations 30a defining inclined notches the back walls of which form abutrnents engageable by the rear edge of a tongue 46a integral at its front end with a depending flange or lip 38a. The tongue and flange are formed of a single piece of flat metal stock bent to shape and at their juncture define a blade support edge 44a.

When the angularity of the blade to the base is to be adjusted, the nut 64 is loosened. Then, the blade sup- 4 port member is adjusted into engagement with a selected abutment or serration and the nut 64 is re-tightened. The nut clampably engages the retaining plate 60, blade 54, and blade support member 36:: against the base, in each selected position of adjustment.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above since it may be utilized'for any purposes to Which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated a and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A Woodworking plane comprising: a supporting body of channeled formation including a planiforrn base and side walls extending from end to end of and projecting upwardly from the opposite longitudinal edges of said base, said base having intermediate its ends a transverse slot extending perpendicularly to the length of the base,

said body including, rearwardly from the slot, an upwardly projecting stud integral with the base and inclined out of verticality in a direction toward the leading end of the base, the base having an upper surface formed, rearwardly from the stud, with transverse, parallel, low serrations defining inclined notches, the back walls of said notches constituting abutments, all of said serrations being at a uniform height above the bottom surface of said base, the abutrnents being uniformly spaced apart longitudinally of the base and being disposed in a com: mon plane parallel to thebottom surface of the base, a blade support member comprising a single pieceof flat metal material of inverted L-shape including at its front end a flange inclined slightly out of verticality and supported at its bottom edge upon the top surface of the base forwardly of the several serrations, said blade support member including an elongated tongue having a front end integral with the upper edge of the flange, said tongue and flange extending substantially at right angles to each other, the tongue having a back edge portion engageable in a selected notch in contact with the abutment defined by the back wall of said notch; a wide, rectangular blade having a leading, sharpened edge extending into the slot of the base, said blade being formed intermediate its ends with a longitudinal center slot receiving said stud, the blade having a Wholly planiform bottom, surface resting upon the blade support member at the juncture between the tongue and flange of said blade support member; a retaining plate overlying the blade and having an underside formed with transverse, downwardly projecting,-low ribs bearing against the top surface of the blade one in front of the stud and one rearwardly fromthe stud, the second-named rib bearing against the blade in proximity to the location at which the blade bears against the blade support member; and a nut threaded upon the stud, the stud projecting above the retaining plate and the nut bearing against the top surfaceof the retaining plate for clampably engaging the blade between the retaining plate and the blade support member and base.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

